Powered toy vehicles is a subject which has interested inventors for an extensive period of time. Before the days of small electric motors, many toy vehicles were designed to utilize coiled spring motors and the like. Subsequently, electric motors of small size were developed and incorporated in bodies of the vehicles and arranged to drive at least certain wheels of the vehicles by means of electric energy supplied either from a remote source or, preferably, from batteries either within the vehicle or in a remote support. Accordingly, compared with steering the vehicle, powering the same for driving especially in a forward direction was not a very difficult problem.
One example of a toy vehicle powered by battery means carried by the chassis is the subject of prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,187,462 to Licitis, dated June 8, 1965, and in which a programmed control means was included to drive the car sequentially to move forward, stop, then rearwardly, and finally, to stop. The front wheels are steered by means of a cam operated by a separate electric motor, the cam being arranged to provide different paths, depending upon the shape of the cam. Still another toy vehicle having electric motor means to drive the rear wheels also includes control means for a pair of electric motors arranged to be individually driven at a selected speed or different speeds and, when driven at different speeds, being operable to turn the front wheels which are mounted in the same manner as modern automobiles employ, and the rear wheels being the only driving wheels. See Pat. No. 3,246,719, dated Feb. 23, 1971.
One other type of electrically powered toy comprises the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,765 to Stormon et al, dated Feb. 23, 1971, in which a pair of wheels adjacent one end of the body of the toy support it and another pair of wheels are mounted for rotation about a vertical axis and are driven to propel the vehicle, said latter pair of wheels being continually revolved about said axis in order to provide various paths of movement for the vehicle. A somewhat related powered toy vehicle also comprises the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,526, to Deyerl, patented July 6, 1971, and in which a pair of wheels adjacent one end of a chassis are independently driven by separate motors adapted to be operated at different speeds, as desired, and such difference in speeds being effective to cause steering wheels at the opposite end of the chassis, which are mounted similarly to the front wheels of modern automobiles, are caused to simultaneously pivot in a direction in which they are compelled to move by the different speeds of the driving wheels at the opposite end of the vehicle.
One other more modern U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,183, to Lahr, dated Nov. 4, 1980, shows a differential gear drive for a toy vehicle in which a single motor derives current from rails on a track as the vehicle moves along the track and transmission means vary the speed of the drive wheels differently by means of spur gears and driving gears of different numbers of teeth operable in conjunction with a reversible transmission frame.
It is one of the major objects of the present invention to provide a novel means for steering a toy vehicle and in which different principles are embodied from those in the aforementioned prior U.S. Patent, details of which are set forth below.